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Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:25 pm

I searched, I swear! I'm sure someone has covered this topic somewhere else. The emblem for my split bus has wing nuts that screw on so the emblem can't be stolen. Is there any options like this that you guys have done to your bay emblems? Mine got stolen tonight, and I really don't want to buy another one just to give someone else a chance to steal one... Any tips on theft proofing? I know that the tabs are not threaded, so that option is out. Lets see your ideas :)

Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:29 pm

they make such nice bling though...

Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:35 pm

You could paint one on ;)

Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:48 pm

Epoxy

Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:57 pm

wire it to the battery?

Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:57 pm

Unless there is a gang of thugs sportin VW around their necks, you probably will only have to replace it once. If it happens twice then it is you neighbors kid. F'n punk!!

Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:56 am

If you do theft proof it and some one tries to nick it again they will probably damage your bus getting it off.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:40 am

Wildthings wrote: Epoxy

Exactly.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:01 am

Quote: wire it to the battery?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:07 am

I had my original gas cap stolen last week. I was pretty PO'd. I didn't know how valueable a late bay fuel cap was but obviously someone did. Anyway I have a new repro crome locking gas cap in the mail now so it wont happen again.

My front emblem is epoxyed so no one can F around:P

Its just a bummer knowing that when something like that gets stolen off of our buses there is a good chance it was another bus owner that did it...there are scumbags everywhere.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:09 pm

patayres wrote: Quote: wire it to the battery?

:lol: :lol: :lol:
Got an old model T coil?

Thats what we get for driving cool dubs. If you had an old beater ford you wouldn't have to worry about it. In some areas of the country (SoCal) every once in a while it must almost be a fad to rip the VW emblems.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:31 pm

billzer06 wrote: The emblem for my split bus has wing nuts that screw on so the emblem can't be stolen.
Wingnuts seem like a pretty minor obstacle :lol:

I remember this topic being brought up a while back. The general consensus was either pop-rivets or a painted on emblem.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:48 pm

patayres wrote: Quote: wire it to the battery?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Thought about it... thought about razor blades too. :shock:

Wed Sep 23, 2009 5:21 pm

nicksny wrote: ...Its just a bummer knowing that when something like that gets stolen off of our buses there is a good chance it was another bus owner that did it...there are scumbags everywhere.

When mine was stolen in the early 90's, I blamed the Beastie Boys.

http://www.last.fm/music/Beastie+Boys/+images/370029

I used pop rivets on the replacement emblem.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:54 pm

electrifying it wont work for long. all you need is gloves to get around that

a sensitive car alarm would go off as soon as someone begins to pull on it. the punks would probably run off, hopefully without the emblem

Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:26 pm

Nothing you can really do, if somebody wants it bad enough they will always get it.

If it happened in front of your house, set up a camera and catch the thug trying again. Surveillance is cheap now, and super fun when you get to confront the kid's parents in your neighborhood.

With his camera's above the garage, my neighbor caught a kid that was breaking car windows.

If you're on the road not much you can do. Could buy a little dash mounted camera, looking out your window.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:19 pm

slather it in Vaseline.

:D that'll freak em out.

Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:30 pm

I'm surprised no one has mentioned welding it in place.

Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:45 am

I know who dun it!

0h - somebody already said that. Nevermind.

Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:18 am

4Doora wrote: billzer06 wrote: The emblem for my split bus has wing nuts that screw on so the emblem can't be stolen.
Wingnuts seem like a pretty minor obstacle :lol:

I remember this topic being brought up a while back. The general consensus was either pop-rivets or a painted on emblem.

But wouldn't the wingnuts be on the inside of the car, where said theives couldn't access them?

I've been thinking of doing something similar with my two early bays, which both have the big chrome emblems. I don't think this method would work on a late bay, or anything with a plastic emblem.

If you had a tiny tap and die set or a self threading nut, you could thread the two bottom mounting tabs of the emblem, and then barely access the back side of the nose and bolt them on real good with a little ratching wrench. Still, someone could pry off the top two, but not the bottom (which unfortuantely means it would probably get bent) .

As for the top two, If you didn't care about drilling more holes into your bus, you might be able to fabricate 2 access holes going through the fresh air box, so that you can work a loooong extension and socket in there and bolt that emblem on real good.

The only problem is that I'm not sure how many layers of metal one would be drilling through. I've got a parts bus that I can test this out on (drilling from the outside in with a loooooong drill bit).

Then presumably on the inside of the bus, you could have the access holes be the same size of those door-hinge-bolt plugs you see on late Beetle doorhinges (approx 3/4 inch?) That way you could plug the hole with something authenticly VW. Just not sure if there would still be a hole in the front side of the air box that you couldn't plug up though

If I do this, I'll take pictures and make a tutorial. At the very least, I think it would be easy to have nuts on the inside of the lower two securing tabs, which would thwart theives somewhat. Then maybe epoxy on the top two?.

While I had my head up there under the dashboard I did notice that there is tons of room to mount speakers under the dash if one wanted to drill a bunch of holes in the top of the dash in the same style as the holes for the central (mono) speaker.